Last weekend I finished depowering my rack per flyin miata instructions. It was pretty easy, finished in about 4 hours. Did it mainly because the power steering rack was leaking a lot of fluid.

My initial thoughts of this is that its hard as **** to turn the damn wheel, even when rolling. I dunno if its because my alignment might be off but turning right or left at an intersection is a lot harder than expected. Turning while rolling is just as hard as if the car is stopped. I know there's no binding while turning the wheel when the car is up on jack stands. Could the alignment be the source of super duper hard turning while rolling? I haven't driven a manual rack miata so I dunno what to compare it to. Any thoughts if this is how its supposed to be or is there something wrong?

 

well if it is properly depowered then you should only be fighting the friction of the rubber on the road

 

so would that mean that if my tires are a little low on air or if the tires are super sticky it will be that hard to turn? I'll try and inflate the tires to 36 psi to see if that makes it easier to turn.

I know I properly depowered the rack cause i could freely move the tie rods by hand before I installed the rack. With the car still up on jack stands and the tie rods hooked up to the wheels it move really easily. Hope its just an alignment issue. Maybe i'll change the rims/tire from my other miata to see if the feel changes.

I feel like i'm being a fat *****.

 

it gets easier over time and you get used to it, but yeah less sticky tires and proper air pressure would help you out fo sho

 

you most likely are.

I had the same feeling, I was worried I messed something up, cause it was so hard to drive. Now i can drive thru town with my arm on the door and getting a cd with the other.

It just takes time.

 

Start going to the gym.

 

What are your caster # like? High caster (4*+) can lead to very heavy steering on a non-powered rack. Something to check into.

 

Get a REAL manual steering rack and you wont have those problems.
I bought mine at rockauto.com

 

Depowered rack is better because it has a better steering ratio.

 

^+1

I think ditching power steering was the best thing I ever did to my miata. Took me a week or so to get used to parking, but you'll get used to not turning until you start moving in no time.

 

Waste of time and money unless you have to replace it anyways. Depowering my rack took an entire hour, and that included taking off the power steering pump.

It should ONLY be difficult to tuen at anything below 2-5mph, once you get rolling though, it's almost like a power steering rack (depending on your tire tyrpe and size).

 

Exactly.

Except it is BETTER then a power rack over 5mph.

I love my manual (factory, not depowered) rack. A properly done depowered rack should be even better due to the quicker ratio.

 

And get a more expensive, yet worse solution. Faster ration in the PS rack.

 

I had looped the lines on my car a few months back. Thought i got all the fluid out but tonight i just double checked and there was about 2 cups of fluid still in my system. It now feels as if i have power steering its so easy

 

Ok, I think my alignment is off. I just drove a club members miata without PS and it was pretty easy turning while moving. Sitting still felt the same as mines.

Think its time to go to the gym more too. Ha Ha!! I'm such a *****

 

Woohooo I can't wait to do this!

 

It was rough when I first pulled mine, but you get used to it.

Tire size makes a pretty big difference. Cranking the big 225/45 NT-01s around a parking lot can be rough, but I can spin the 185/60 Falken 912s lock-to-lock without a lot of effort.

 

My only gripe with nonPS is parking lots and parallel parking. Seriously, doing a quick parallel job is cake with PS.... not so much w/ non. At 10+ mph the nonPS feels so tight I could never go back.

 

I depowered the rack the cheap way for awhile by removing the pump and lines, and I loved the feel. I had to put it back on since I could not find a non PS pulley and DIY needed the A/C working for the MS testing, and the funny thing is I like the steering feel both ways for different reasons, and I'm still undecided on which way to go. I will probably keep it, simply because I had problems with quick, tight turns. Parking was not a problem, it just took me a bit to get the wheel from lock to lock.

 

i dont think i would be very happy with PS but then again i never drove an NA miata with PS, drove a few NBs and didnt like the steering feel